The chair a Texas rabbi threw at his captor is headed to the American Jewish museum
The chair and the teacup from the Colleyville, Texas, synagogue hostage crisis will be entering the American Jewish history museum in Philadelphia. (Images courtesy of Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and Emil Lippe/Getty Images. Photo illustration by Mollie Suss)
(JTA) – When the rabbi at the center of January’s synagogue hostage standoff first encountered the stranger who would soon hold him at gunpoint, he served him a cup of tea. Eleven hours later, as part of a daring escape, the rabbi threw a chair at him.
The teacup and the chair, items that together depict the terrifying arc of the synagogue hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, are now becoming literal artifacts of the American Jewish experience.
Congregation Beth Israel has donated the items to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia for a new exhibit on modern-day antisemitism in America, which will open to the public this spring. The exhibit will be accompanied by a video interview with Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and the three congregants who were held hostage inside his synagogue by a British-Pakistani national.
“‘The Cup and The Chair’ are not only artifacts that document a historic event but are symbolic of fundamental Jewish values: ‘Welcoming strangers’ and ‘Redeeming captives,’” Misha Galperin, the Weitzman museum’s president and CEO, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency via email.
“They also represent the basic American ideals of embracing newcomers and bravery in the face of danger. This is what Jewish Americans aspire to be and what the Weitzman Museum aspires to represent.”
The items will be placed on the museum’s ground floor, with high visibility to the public. The Weitzman’s chief curator and director of exhibitions and interpretation, Josh Perelman, said the intent is “to serve as a reminder of our collective responsibility for protecting and expanding the ideals enshrined at Independence Hall.”
The synagogue had not revealed the names of two of the hostages, congregants Lawrence Schwartz and Shane Woodward, prior to the announcement of the museum exhibit, though Woodward had previously been identified as a hostage by a Jewish gun-rights YouTube channel.
—
The post The chair a Texas rabbi threw at his captor is headed to the American Jewish museum appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
